Song “Au clair de la lune” · the coloring pages on this refrain
Pierrot and the unicorn
By candlelight, Pierrot writes with a quill, looking worried, while the unicorn leans over his desk.
- Recommended age
- Ages 4 and up · 20 to 40 minutes
- Themes
- Storybook scenes, Unicorns
Pierrot at his desk
Pierrot sits on a chair at a small wooden desk, wearing a tall pointed hat with a pompom, a ruffled collar tied with a bow around his neck. He writes with a quill on a sheet of paper, looking a little worried. On the desk, a lit candle and an inkpot. On the right, a small starry unicorn leans on the edge of the desk and smiles at him, as if to cheer him on. Up top, a crescent moon sleeps among the clouds and stars; on the ground, a rolled-up scroll tied with a ribbon and another feather.
“Ma chandelle est morte”
In “Au clair de la lune”, the French lullaby, Pierrot’s candle has gone out — “ma chandelle est morte” — and he cannot lend his quill. Here, the candle is still burning, and Pierrot is writing his note himself, with the unicorn looking on. What he is writing, the song does not say: it is a good question to ask your child. A letter to the moon? A note for his neighbor? The page leaves the answer open.
Straight lines and curves
The desk and the chair are made of straight planks, long and regular areas: good ground for learning to follow a line. Pierrot and the unicorn bring the curves: the tall hat, the collar, the mane. The small things — the flame, the inkpot, the stars in the mane — need the tip of a pencil, which suits what a four-year-old’s hand is just starting to manage.
A warm light in the middle
The candle is the heart of the page: its flame in yellow and orange, and a little light yellow around it, on the desk, make it look as if it is giving light. The wood takes a warm brown, the hat a bright color. The sky can stay white, or turn midnight blue around the moon and the stars. Pierrot’s face stays pale, as the character wants.
A word for the grown-up: suggest that your child write or draw, on Pierrot’s sheet of paper, what he is writing. A few letters, a heart, a scribble: the page becomes their own.
Coloring pages that go with this one
More pages from the same theme, age or season — the ones you print right after.
